#348.5 – “Party All Night… Sleep All Day”

“And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me that part of your property which will be mine. And he made division of his goods between them. And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living. And when everything was gone, there was no food to be had in that country, and he was in need. And he went and put himself into the hands of one of the people of that country, and he sent him into his fields to give the pigs their food. And so great was his need that he would have been glad to take the pigs' food, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to his senses, he said, What numbers of my father's servants have bread enough, and more, while I am near to death here through need of food! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes.” - Luke 15:11-18
All of the kids got to have a taste of party life last night. The girls went over to Ashton’s house for her birthday party. Meanwhile, Brennan came over to our house to play with the boys. Since it was officially a party night, they stayed up a little later than normal… which was fine with us, since they aren’t in school right now. But that meant that getting up this morning was a bit of a struggle. I think I called them four times before anybody showed up in the kitchen for breakfast. They each came dragging in, slowly waking up as they ate their cereal. I guess they just aren’t cut out for party life!
This little episode reminded me of the prodigal son, and how he thought the party life was for him. He asked for his inheritance early, so that he could go live it up in the far country. Instead, he found out that the fun lifestyle he was so looking forward to quickly ‘ran out of fun’, leaving him with nothing but a longing for home.
Living by our selfish wants and wishes will always leave us dissatisfied. It will never prove to be what we had hoped. Consequently, we will come to a point when we must decide whether we will continue on our course of action (with the same dissatisfaction as a result), or we will turn back to our Father and home… a place where we will always be welcomed and loved and fulfilled.

Daniel